EPR to change the business of waste

The United States lacks any national standards, practices or plans to reduce waste and pollution. But at the heart of this structural problem lies massive and attainable opportunities to get the country on the right track before a treaty comes into effect in 2024. The solution starts with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging and paper products.1

EPR is a policy mechanism that would change the business of waste in the United States by making producers and brands financially responsible for the collection and recycling of consumer packaging. By shifting the financial burden away from taxpayers and local governments, the companies that are producing plastic will be incentivized to ensure plastic that goes into the system stays in the system.

Under an EPR framework, producers and brands would shoulder the cost of recycling materials. They would also be penalized for selling hard-to-recycle packaging or for not incorporating recycled content into their packaging portfolio. Collectively, these changes would incentivize producers to use less plastic, and use it more responsibly. Over time, recycled content would become more available and more cost effective. Collectively, we would be on the path to doing more with less.

In encouraging news, Americans want businesses to act on plastic waste. A recent WWF survey found over 50 percent of respondents believe businesses that produce and sell plastic should be held responsible for collecting and recycling that plastic waste.2 It should be noted that more and more businesses want to be responsible for the collection and recycling of the materials they use. While this aligns with what the public wants, it might give an environmentalist pause. Are companies willing to put their reputation, brand and profit on the line? The answer is yes, and we’ve already seen important progress in this space. For example, Europe and Canada have implemented EPR policies.

As we navigate how we adopt EPR in the United States, we can use these examples to create a system that is sturdy, efficient and drives the right environmental results. Government and public oversight can ensure that those systems are operating in an environmentally sound manner, and demand changes to stewardship plans if targets aren’t being met. At the beginning of June 2022, Colorado signed a bill into law putting the state well on its way to implementing their own EPR system, and several other states have considered similar legislation.3

A game-changing opportunity

It is true that the United States can’t just recycle its way out of the global plastic waste crisis. But with waste management set up for success, we can enable the circu- lar systems needed to fulfill our national obligations under the impending global treaty.

We are standing on the threshold of a seminal moment for private sector accountability —a game-changing opportunity to provide both taxpayers and nature with some much-needed relief. Now we must capitalize on this moment by implementing EPR and transforming our waste management system once and for all. If we prevail, we’ll be one giant step closer to freeing the United States and the world from plastic’s chokehold.

Endnotes

1 “What is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)?” WWF, June 8, 2021. https:// www.worldwildlife.org/blogs/sustainability-works/posts/what-is-extendedproducer-responsibility-epr

2 “Public Opinion Surrounding Plastic Consumption and Waste Management of Consumer Packaging: 2022 Update.” WWF, June 6, 2022. worldwildlife.org/publications/public-opinion-surrounding-plastic-consumption-andwaste-management-of-consumer-packaging-2022-update

3 “WWF Statement on Colorado EPR Legislation.” WWF, June 3, 2022. www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/wwf-statement-on-colorado-epr-legislation